January 2019 General Meeting

January 22 @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Robert Hanner, Associate Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph

Title: Detecting Food Fraud with DNA

Dr Hanner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph, where he is also appointed to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario and the Food Institute. He received his BSc from Eastern Michigan University and PhD from the University of Oregon. He pursued postdoctoral research at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) where he spearheaded the development of their Ambrose Monell Cryo Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research. Robert then served as Scientific Director of the Coriell Cell Repositories at the Coriell Institute of Medical Research and has also served as a past president of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER). He currently serves as the North American Node Representative to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). His research focus on molecular biodiversity has seen various applications in support of food security. However, he is perhaps most well known for research that has engaged citizen scientists, journalists and NGOs in revealing market substitution (aka food fraud), both in Canada and internationally.